Iheancho, Iwobi, Etebo goes Head to head at Glo-CAF Awards

Nigerian stars Kelechi Iheanacho (Most Promising player of the Year), Alex Iwobi (Youth Player of the Year), Oghenekaro Etebo (Most Promising player of the Year) and Asisat Oshoala (Women Player of the Year) on Sunday made the top five nominees in different categories for the 2016 Glo-CAF Awards, at an event in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday.

Super Falcons coach Florence Omagbemi, who led the women’s national team to an eighth AWCON triumph earlier in the month, and the national U-23 team were also nominated for the Coach of the Year and National Team of the Year respectively, while the Falcons made the shortlist for the Women National team of the Year.

The release of the five nominees in seven new categories namely Coach of the Year, National Team of the Year, Women National Team of the Year, Youth Player of the Year, Most Promising Player of the Year, Club of the Year and Women Player of the Year, is a follow-up to the earlier list of the top five contenders for the 2016 African Footballer of the Year Awards.

The top five nominees for the Youth Player of the Year are Nigeria and Arsenal forward Iwobi, Sandra Owusu-Ansah (Ghana women’s team), Franck Kessie (Ivory Coast), Eric Ayiah (Ghana U-17 team) and Sidiki Maiga (Mali U-20 team).

Arsenal Ladies’ Oshoala, who scored six goals at the 2016 AWCON, will compete with Janine van Wyk of South Africa, Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene (Cameroon), Raissa Feudjlo Tchanyo (Cameroon) and Ghanaian Elizabeth Addo for the Women Player of the Year.

Oshoala won the award in 2014, alongside being named Youth Player of the Year.

Omagbemi will compete with Florent Ibenge (DR Congo), Milutin Sredojevic (Uganda), Pitso Mosimane (Mamelodi Sundowns) and Nacer Sandjak (Mo Bejaia) for Coach of the Year while DR Congo, Guinea Bissau,Nigeria U-23, Senegal and Uganda were shortlisted for National Team of the Year.